Where There's A Will There's A Way
by booksdefygravity
Summary: "Look, I swear this wasn't intentional. I never meant to end up holding hands with Will Frobisher in Madame Puddifoot's. I never meant to end up kissing Will Frobisher in front of all of my friends. I just wanted Rose and Scorpius to get together. We had a completely foolproof plan. But sometimes things don't go as planned."
1. Prologue

Look, I swear that this wasn't intentional.

I never _meant_ to end up holding hands with Will Frobisher in Madame Puddifoot's.

I never _meant _to end up kissing Will Frobisher in front of all of my friends.

I just wanted Rose and Scorpius to get together.

We had a completely foolproof plan.

But sometimes things don't go as planned.


	2. Chapter 1: Sorting

**AN: I have never written an OC before, so I would really love to know what you think. Please review! It's very encouraging.**

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Chapter One:

It started at the Sorting.

My personal Sorting, thankfully, did not take long. I have learned from experience that there is nothing more humiliating than standing in front of the entire school for a prolonged period of time. (Especially if you're kissing someone. But I'll get to that.)

Having already watched several students sit on the stool for five minutes before being sorted, I was slightly anxious. I've rather gotten over my shyness, but I was _eleven, _ for Merlin's sake. Combined with the whole Potter-family-if-you're-not-a-Gryffindor-we'll-disown-you thing, I was fairly nervous. Okay, fine. By the time they called "Potter, Lily!" I was a total wreck.

I needn't have been worried, though. The moment the hat touched my head, I heard _Oh, look, another Weasley-Potter hybrid. GRYFFINDOR!_

_Well, that was easy, _I thought, slipping off the school and heading for the Gryffindor table. Practically my whole family was there: my brothers, James and Albus , my cousin, Rose, and her best friend, Scorpius. Technically, Scorpius wasn't family, but he hung around so much he might as well have been.

Anyways, they were all cheering. I was all happy and everything, another Gryffindor added to the Potter-Weasley pile, when I went to sit down by all of the other first-years, next to a boy with curly brown hair and hazel eyes.

He made a little cross with his fingers, like I was a vampire or something. "Back, ginger!" he exclaimed, before explaining to the rest of the table "They don't have souls, you know."

The boys laughed, but the girls made comforting expressions at me. I ignored them. "Who are _you_?" I demanded of the curly-haired boy. He wasn't that big, and I had grown up with James. If it came down to a fight, I could probably take him, or at least give him a black eye. Therefore, I had no problem being rude.

"Will Frobisher," he said. "Who are _you?_"

"Lily Potter," I said proudly.

"Ooh, a _Potter_!" he exclaimed mockingly.

"I'd rather be a Potter than a Frumpy Hare or whatever you are," I said.

He looked furious. "_Frobisher_!"

"Whatever," I said. "Bye, Frumpy Hare."

And I went to sit by Lucy Bell.

In retrospect, the poor boy was probably trying to flirt with me by being mean. It's the only way they know how, poor dimwitted cockroaches.

But by the time I was old enough to realize this, it was already too late.

We already hated each other.


	3. Chapter 2: Train

**AN: R&R! I shall love you forever and ever if you do. Except I don't know you, so that would be really creepy. But R&R anyways.**

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Chapter Two:

As I have grown older, there are many things I have had to accept. As a matter of fact, there are so many things, I think I'll make a list:

1: People are never going to stop telling me I look "just like my mother."

2: Vanishing charms do not work on freckles.

3: Dating a guy, breaking up with him, and dating his brother is _not _a good idea.

4: I will never love Quidditch as much as my siblings and cousins do.

5: I have a large amount of flaws.

In order to make number 5 more clear, a list of my flaws:

1: I hold grudges for a very long time.

2: I meddle in other people's business.

3: I'm rather impulsive.

(And a great many others.)

However, the one flaw to which I will never, _ever _admit is cluelessness. Particularly when it comes to relationships and crushes and romance in general. I cannot _stand _it when people are clueless about their crushes.

It is for that reason that sitting on a train with Scorpius and Rose was so infuriating.

The day I am referring to was the first day of school, my fifth year of attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Rose, Scorpius, and Albus, (all seventh years), Hugo (a fifth year, like me), Dominique (a sixth year), Fred (a fourth year) Roxanne (a third year), and I were all sitting in a compartment together. Normally, you will not find compartments on the Hogwarts express with such a wide age range, but we were all family (and Scorpius), so it was a habit of ours.

The ride was progressing as it normally does: Hugo ,Fred, and Roxanne were plotting something evil, Dominique was reading some kind of magazine, Albus was reading, and Rose and Scorpius were acting _completely _aggravating.

There they were, cuddled up in a corner, reading, laughing, making intellectual jokes, teasing each other, and even _playing with each other's hair, for Merlin's sake._

In short, they were acting just like any typical, lovesick, irritating couple—except, they weren't a couple.

A short recap of the Rose/Scorpius drama: They hated each other until the middle of second year, were best friends until the end of fourth year, and have been stuck in the same completely-unresolved, self-generated friendzone ever since. I mean, they're still best friends, but everyone knows that they're secretly madly in love with each other—everyone, apparently, except them. See what I mean? _Clueless._

I was saved from my aggravated, why-don't-you-just-kiss-already mental rant by the distraction of Will Frobisher entering our compartment.

Scratch that. Will Frobisher did not save me, nor was I distracted by him.

Rephrasing.

My aggravated, why-don't-you-just-kiss-already mental rant was very rudely interrupted by Will Frobisher entering our compartment.

"Scorp, my friend!" he said. "How's it going? I've been looking for you!"

"Sorry, mate," said Scorpius. "I've been hanging out with this lot."

Will's eyes fell on me. I glared.

"Lily."

"Hello, Will."

We both spoke in tones of not-very-well-hidden distaste.

"Keep it civil, you two," said Rose, laughing.

"I'm civil!" I protested.

Will laughed irritatingly. "Yes, _very _civil."

I opened my mouth to retort. Dominique kicked me. She was wearing high heels.

"Ouch!" I exclaimed. "Merlin, Domi! Don't you have any shoes that _aren't_ daggers?" She was wearing one of her usual weird outfits: A lacy gray dress, hot pink tights, and weird, lacy, gray high heels. Her silvery-blonde hair was pulled into a tight bun on top of her head.

"Anyways, Scorp, I need to talk to you for a minute," said Will.

Scorpius got up and followed Will out of the compartment. After sticking his tongue out at me (I did not stoop to his level and return the insult) Will closed the compartment door.

_Hmm, _I thought. _What is this about?_

Because our compartment was overly-crowded, I was sitting on the floor. As casually as possible, I scooted backwards and leaned against the compartment door, trying to make out the murmured voices.

_"Just ask her out already, Scorp!"_

_"I don't want to ruin the friendship!"_

_"You've liked her for ages."_

_"I'm waiting for the right moment._

_"_Make _the right moment!"_

_"I can't. Not with her."_

_"Come on, man."_

_"Will, it's not going to happen._

_A sigh. "Fine, whatever. I'm going to go get some more chocolate frogs."_

I scooted away from the door just as Scorpius re-entered, looking slightly harassed.

A sudden idea struck me. I jumped to my feet. "I'm going to go find some of my friends," I said.

"Bye," said Rose.

I waved at her and rushed out into the corridor. There was Will, heading towards the front of the train.

"Will!" I called. "Will!"

He stopped and turned around.

"Hi," I said, reaching him.

He gave me a where-did-this-purple-cow-in-my-back-yard-come-from kind of look.

I rolled my eyes. "Okay, don't respond. Whatever. Look, I overheard you talking to Scorpius."

He snorted. "Overheard?"

"Fine, I eavesdropped on you and Scorpius. Happy?"

"Yes, I'm just filled with joy that you eavesdropped on me."

I ignored that comment, cutting right to the chase. "Rose and Scorpius were made for each other."

"That's the first thing you've ever said that I actually agree with," said Will, although he looked slightly confused.

"Exactly!" I exclaimed. "So, I had a thought."

"I guess there really is a first time for everything."

I hit him.

"Ouch! Merlin!"

I took a deep breath. "I think you and I should work together and set them up."

"What? Why?" He looked completely repulsed, which was very annoying.

I rolled my eyes. "Look, I don't want to work with you, either. But I'm friends with Rose and you're friends with Scorpius. If we work together, we might just be able to pull this off. And they're never going to do it on their own."

"That's actually fairly convincing," he said. "All right, I'll do it." He held out his hand. "I solemnly swear that I will help Rose Weasley and Scorpius Malfoy stop being morons and snog already."

I repeated the oath.

We shook hands.

And that is how this story truly began.


	4. Chapter 3: Planning

"Stop it!"

"Stop what?"

"What do you think?"

"What, am I a Legilimens or something?"

"What, are you?"

"Am I what?"

"For Merlin's sake!"

"Am I for Merlin's sake? Like, was I created specifically to serve Merlin? Am I the god of unbelievable hotness that is going to find the long-lost Merlin, long since believed to be dead, and bring him back to the Ministry of Magic so he can vanquish all the evil in the world?"

"Just _stop throwing paper in my hair!"_

It was Friday afternoon, the end of the first week of school. Rather unfortunately, I was celebrating the first weekend of the school year by sitting around _in the library _with Will Frobisher.

Of course, this wasn't supposed to be some cozy picnic or something. We were supposed to be doing top-secret, extremely-important, Operation Emerald Flower (Operation EF, for short) planning. But because I had chosen Will Frobisher as my partner in crime, most of that planning time had, so far, been spent by him throwing small pieces of paper into my hair.

"Come on," I said, lowering my voice. Madam Pince, the ancient librarian, was glaring at me. I did not want to get in trouble with her. She may be old, but she's definitely capable of things worse than murder. "I thought you would actually be good at this."

He looks surprised, probably because I thought he might be good at something. "Good at what?"

I waved my hand vaguely. "You know. Planning. Evil things. Et cetera."

"You know, you're the only person who thinks I'm evil," he said. "Everyone else finds me charming, intelligent, and dashingly handsome."

I raised my eyebrows. "Really? Well, they are probably not the people who witnessed the manticore incident."

The "Manticore Incident" took place during our third year. We were in Care of Magical Creatures, learning about unicorns, when Will noticed a crate full of manticores that was being used for a seventh-year lesson. He thought it would be funny to snatch a piece of my hair, give it to one of the manticores, and release it.

Basically, manticores hunt by scent. So, the minute the manticore smelled my hair, it was like "Ooh! Tasty girl! I want to eat it!" Thus, when the manticore was released, it chased me all over the Hogwarts school grounds. I managed to escape by climbing up a tree, and I was forced to stay there until they caught the manticore.

It was almost worth it, though, because Will got four months worth of Friday detentions.

"Well, anyone who likes _you _clearly was not present for the Week of the Floating Pudding," retorted Will.

Oh, yes, that story. Well, a few months after the manticore incident, I noticed that Will was eating pudding at dinner. I had a rather brilliant thought, did a small charm, and when Will stood up, a small dish of pudding began to float after him. From then on, every time he ate pudding, another small dish began to float behind him. My clever little puddings were rather good at hiding whenever he turned around, so he never saw them, and it was a week before anyone bothered to tell him. Of course, everyone knew it was me, so I got several detentions, but I didn't care. It was worth scrubbing a few toilets to see my arch-nemesis pursued by a dish of chocolate plum pudding.

"That was completely different," I insisted. "A few bowls of floating pudding would not have killed you. Manticores are dangerous."

He rolled his eyes. "Well, there was also the thing with the hippogriff—

"—and the thing with the pretzels, and the thing with the donkey, and the Amortenia love potion incident," I said, naming several more instances in which one of us had been the culprit. "Let's not get into this."

"Fine," he said. Then his eyes widened. "Amortenia love potion! We could drug them!"

I stared at him. "You are way too enthusiastic about that option. Also, they already like each other."

"Oh, yeah," he said, deflated. "I just thought if they were in a romantic mood…

"Ooh, there's an idea!" I said. "We could set them up on a blind date!"

"They're secretly in love with each other. Why would they want to go on a date with someone else?"

I sighed. "Good point."

"Wait a second... I've got it!" he said excitedly. "Let's tell them we're all going to meet up at the next Hogsmeade visit. We'll get there early, disguised, so we can watch and see what happens. They'll both get there, and they'll be sitting alone, somewhere extremely romantic…

"Brilliant!" I said, and then amended hastily, "I mean, compared to your usual moronic standards, that's pretty smart."

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. Tell Rose to be at Madame Puddifoot's."

"See you there," I said. The next Hogsmeade's visit was only a week away.

"Hopefully they'll snog and start dating quickly, so I never have to talk to you again," said Will.

I couldn't help but grin. "My sentiments exactly." I grabbed my bag. "Well, cross your fingers!"

"Crossed," he said, and we parted ways.


	5. Chapter 4: Madame Puddifoot's

"Great Morgana," I muttered. "In the name of all that is holy, what _is _this place?"

Will gave me an incredulous look. "What, you've never had a boyfriend before?"

I snorted. The end-of-fourth-year-Lorcan-and-Lysander incident was still relatively fresh. Neither of them had stopped glaring at me. "Oh, trust me, I have. But they were all smart enough not to take me to a place like this."

Madame Puddifoot's is a truly awful place. The walls are a bright and shocking pink, the curtains ruffled and frilly, the lighting dim, the decorations horribly tacky, and, to top it all off, it is _crammed_ full of couples, all of them snogging, holding hands, or gazing dreamily into each other's eyes.

"This is disgusting," I said.

"I have to say I agree with you," said Will. "However, it is the perfect atmosphere to get two people to snog each other."

I sighed. "It pains me to admit this, but you're probably right."

"Right over here, dears," said a short, chubby woman, leading us over to a table. "Today's a Special Romantic Deal Day, so you get two free cups of my latest drink, Lusciously Romantic Fruit Cappuccino!"

Before I could say that I didn't want to drink anything that contained the word 'luscious', she was gone.

"Do you think we're disguised enough?" I asked Will.

He looked me over. I had tucked my way-too-distinctive Weasley hair up under a hat, applied some glittery eye makeup, and even worn a pink dress that I had for some reason. (I never wear eye makeup. Or the color pink.)

"You look good," he said. "I mean, you look like a disgusting bat, but not like yourself. Wait, no. your disguise is fine, but you still look like a disgusting bat."

I raised my eyebrows. "You know, if I was any other girl on the planet, you'd be dead right now."

He smirked. "Other girls find me to be the epitome of manly demeanor, hotness, and dreamy eyes, AKA perfect boyfriend material."

"Oh, really?" I said. "Who was your last girlfriend?"

"Lilac Finnigan."

"_Lilac?_" I said in disbelief. "I mean, she's pretty, but she's an idiot."

"Fine, what about you?" he retorted.

I squirmed uncomfortably. "Well…I mean...

"What?" he said, immediately curious.

I sighed. "I was going out with Lysander Scamander for a few months, but we didn't really tell anyone about it, and then I broke up with Lysander, and his brother, Lorcan, who didn't know we had been dating, asked me out, so then I was dating him, and then I broke up with him, and they both found out that I had dated both of them…

"Blimey, that's way too complicated," said Will. "Why don't you just… I don't know, snog people and then move on?"

I rolled my eyes. "I don't know, maybe I like emotionally fulfilling relationships?"

"_Emotionally fulfilling_? What does that even mean?"

I couldn't help but laugh. "I don't even now. If you want to know the truth, my relationships with Lorcan and Lysander were not particularly emotionally fulfilling, whatever that means."

"Aha!" he exclaimed. "So you _do _just snog people and move on!"

"Ssh," I hissed.

"What?" he said.

"You are not playing your part!" I said.

"What part?"

"Look around you," I said. "What do you see? Couples. So what do we look like? A couple."

Will looked slightly panicked. "What, you want us to snog or something?"

"Eww," I said. "No way."

"So…

"I guess we could… I don't know, hold hands or something?"

"You definitely have a thing for me."

"I do _not!" _I hissed. "You're delusional."

Suddenly, he grabbed my hand.

"Um, hi there," I said.

"Rose and Scorpius," he hissed. "Over there. If we look like another couple, they won't pay any attention."

I glanced over in the direction of the door. Sure enough, Rose and Scorpius were walking in together, talking and laughing. Just as I had, they stopped abruptly, seemingly startled by the shocking dollhouse tea party explosion that is Madame Puddifoot's.

Madame Puddifoot guided them to their table. They sat down uncertainly, but soon, they were talking and apparently enjoying themselves, drinking their free Luscious Fruit Whatevers and probably discussing Arithmancy theorems or something else equally boring. It tried to read their lips—maybe the pink was getting to them and they were admitting their trust issues or something—but I was slightly distracted by Will's hand.

Not, to be specific, that I was _distracted_ by Will Frobisher_. That_ would not happen even if he decided to salsa dance in front of me with the Fat Friar, wearing a toga, with a horde of puddings and cupcakes hovering over his head, so I was not about to let a little hand-holding distract me from the task at hand.

I was, however, slightly surprised to discover that he had a fairly nice hand. Some guys don't, you know. Not to point fingers or name names, but Lorcan Scamander had very pale hands that always felt rather… moist. Will's hand was a nice tan color, warm, and not rough but not too soft. Furthermore, he held my hand tightly, not all loose and floppy, like Lorcan, but he didn't squeeze it to death, either, like Lysander. And his nails weren't dirty, but—

Whoa, Lily. Focus, girl.

Okay. Okay. Focusing.

So, Scorpius and Rose were making absolutely no progress, just sitting there, not even holding hands. Actually, Scorpius was eyeing her hand like it was a cupcake and he was on a diet, but he was fairly certain he could get away with one measly little cupcake, but his mother would probably catch him and then he would be in loads of trouble, so he was having some painful internal conflict over whether or not he should grab it.

"Come on," I muttered under my breath. "Just grab the cupcake. Come on, you know you want it. Red velvet with chocolate sprinkles."

Will, meanwhile, was also muttering under his breath. "Just grab the snitch, moron. It's right there. One hundred and fifty points."

I never knew there was someone else who used similes as in-depth as mine. How odd.

Scorpius's hand twitched, like he was going to do it. Then he took his hand off the table.

Will sighed, leaning back in his chair. "He's not going to do it."

"And he calls himself a Gryffindor," I said, shaking my head sadly. "Well, what do we do now?"

"Isn't there some sort of charm or something?" he said. "Like, a snog-the-first-person-you-see charm or something?"

"Unfortunately, no," I said.

Apparently, Scorpius and Rose had given up on Will and I showing up. They finished their drinks, got to their feet, and left.

"Well, that plan was a dud," sighed Will. "What now?"

"We just need to get them to kiss," I said, frustrated. "Once they did that, they'd realize they have a mutual secret desire for each other and start going out."

"But we can't _force _them to kiss," I said. "Or—

A thought struck me like lightning.

"Or maybe we _can_," said Will, his eyes lighting up with excitement.

His brown eyes met my blue ones, and I could tell we were thinking exactly the same thing.

"Spin the Bottle," I breathed.

"My thoughts exactly," he said.

I grinned. "So, Will, were you planning on throwing a party any time soon?"

He grinned back. "Oh, I'm sure something could be arranged."

For a moment, we sat there, grinning at each other. Then I realized he was still holding my hand and quickly snatched it away from him.

"I still hate you," I told him firmly.

"Don't worry," he said. "I don't like people who don't have souls, Ginger."

And with that, he finished his drink and was gone, probably heading off to join his friends at Zonko's or something.

I shook my head. The nerve of some people.


	6. Chapter 5: Invisibility

**AN: Thank you, beings of amazingawesomefantasticness, for your follows and reviews. They make me SO happy. Love you guys! Okay, here's your chapter:**

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Two weeks later, Will and I were getting ready to party. I mean, host a party. Throw a party. Gather a bunch of people together in a not-very-stealthy attempt to get Scorpius and Rose to kiss each other. Whatever you want to call it.

Anyways, I had assembled a list of all-important party supplies, as shown here:

A: Food

B: Music

C: Butterbeer

D: People

We had decided to keep it fairly small. In addition to Rose and Scorpius (who were, obviously, invited) we had also invited Dominique, Albus, Hugo, Lizbeth and Leo Jordan, Jamie Bell, Alexander Zabini, and Theresa Boot. Fred and Roxanne were, of course, too young to come.

So, we had letter D under control. Hugo had snuck a whole bunch of butterbeer from Hogsmeade, fulfilling letter C. Rose knew a nifty little radio charm, fulfilling letter B. Thus, the only thing we needed was letter A, food.

Of course, there was only one way to get adequate party food. So, at eight p.m., one hour before the party was supposed to start, Will and I set off for the kitchens. (The trick is to tell the house-elves how shiny the pots and pans are. Once you've done that, they'll basically love you forever.)

"Do you think this is going to work?" asked Will.

"Definitely," I replied. "And what a relief, too. I would hate to have to spend even more time hanging around with you."

"Yes, it's terribly unfortunate how this plan forces me to spend my weekends in your vile presence."

"Vile presence? If anyone has a vile presence around here—

Suddenly, I stopped. Two pinpricks of light were shining in the shadows of the corridor—no, not lights. _Eyes._

"Mrs. Norris," I breathed. Mrs. Norris is the cat that belongs to the _ancient _caretaker, Filch. Honestly, I have no idea how either of them managed to live this long. There's definitely something unnatural about a thirty-year-old cat, and Filch looks like he's nearing his hundredth birthday.

Mrs. Norris darted away.

"Oh, no," Will moaned quietly. "She's gone to get Filch."

I suddenly remembered something and quickly rifled through my school bag. _Come on, _I thought. _It's got to be in here somewhere…_

"What are you doing?" asked Will.

I ignored him, yanking the shimmering silvery fabric out of the bag. He gasped.

"Is that—

"An invisibility cloak, yes," I said, zipping my bag shut and shouldering it once again. "Come on, get under it."

Quickly, we huddled under the cloak. Unfortunately, we were forced to stand so close together, we were practically hugging. I could feel his lips right by my ear, his warm breath tickling my hair. Our shoulders were pressed close together, and I could smell his scent. Cinnamon. He smelled like cinnamon. I've always liked cinnamon. If you mix it with brown sugar, it's really delicious on toast. It's also excellent in hot chocolate, especially—

Focus, Lily, focus.

Okay. Back to the corridor, where Filch had appeared, talking to his horrible cat.

"Where are they, my precious?" wheezed Filch. "Nasty little students, sneaking out late at night… Oh, I'll find them… come along, precious, perhaps they're sneaking into the dungeons…

He moved on down the corridor, heading out of sight.

Relieved, I took a breath of air. "Come on," I whispered to Will. "Let's go."

Still invisible, we began to creep down to the kitchens.

"Where did you get this?" whispered Will.

Get what? Oh, the cloak. "My dad," I whispered back. "Albus and I share it."

"Cool," he replied. "Sometimes I wish I had something of my dad's."

I wondered what he meant. "You don't see him much?"

"He's kind of a busy guy. Pretty famous."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Ron Weasley, actually."

I came to a very abrupt stop. "_What _did you just say?"

"My dad, Ron Weasley," said Will. "He had an affair with my mom, but he went back to his wife."

"I—wait—what?"

To make matters even more confusing, Will began to laugh.

_What is going on?_

"I was kidding," Will choked out."I—can't—believe—you—believed—

And he dissolved into laughter once more.

"That is _not funny_!" I exclaimed.

"Oh, come on," he protested. "It's pretty funny."

"If that was true," I said, "we would be cousins."

And suddenly, we were both laughing. For nearly five minutes, we stood there, invisible, laughing, sharing a joke that Rose or Hugo or even Albus would have found offensive.

As we calmed down and began, once again, to make our way to the kitchens, a disturbing thought occurred to me:

_Maybe Will Frobisher isn't so bad, after all. _

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**AN: Hello there! Okay, I am sorry about this agonizing chapter…I know, I know, you want to know what happens in the dimly lit room when they're under the influence of butterbeer, playing Spin the Bottle…I promise the party will be in the next chapter. Remember, reviews make my day and lead to faster updates. Thank you so much for reading!**


	7. Chapter 6: Party

**AN: Here it is! Let me know what you think!**

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Everything was going perfectly.

At exactly nine p.m., all of the guests had shown up. By ten, the party was in full swing. Dominique and Jamie Bell, incredibly giggly and possibly a little drunk, were flirting outrageously with Alexander Zabini. Leo Jordan and Will were laughing and talking. Albus, to my complete and utter astonishment, was engaged in deep conversation with Theresa Boot, a pretty, dark-haired Ravenclaw who was friends with Rose. (Not to be mean or anything, but Al did not talk to girls. Ever. I mean, he was seventeen years old and had never had a girlfriend. So it's not really my fault that I was a little surprised.)

And, of course, Rose and Scorpius were being completely infuriating. I mean, _come on. _They were _stealing each other's food_, for Merlin's sake! Unless they're in a relationship, _who does that?_

At that exact moment, Will came up and stole a cookie from my plate of food.

"Hey!" I protested.

He rolled his eyes and offered me the half-eaten cookie.

"Eww," I said. "That's disgusting."

"You're disgusting," he replied. "So, do you think it's going well?"

"Excellently," I said.

"Do you think we should play the game now?"

I looked around the room, trying to get a feel for the atmosphere. The music was on. Everyone was laughing, giggling, and acting hyper. Even Rose seemed to be having some kind of a sugar rush.

"Yeah," I said. "Let's do it." I took a deep breath and stepped forward. "Hey, guys!" I said brightly, like the idea had just occurred to me. "I just had an awesome idea! We should play Spin the Bottle!"

"Totally!" shrieked Dominique. "This is going to be great. Come on, guys!"

"I'm in," said Alexander, his eyes on Jamie Bell.

To my everlasting and unforgettable astonishment, Albus said "Why not?"

"Great!" I said brightly, and then added, noticing the _oh-Merlin-how-do-I-get-out-of-this-one _look in Rose's eyes, "Everyone has to play! Come on, circle up!" Before either of them could protest, I dragged Rose and Scorpius into the circle.

"Okay," I said, once we were all seated. "Who wants go first? Scorpius?"

Poor Scorpius. He looked absolutely terrified. "Okay, not Scorpius," I said. "Rose?"

"How about _you_ go first, Lily?" she said.

"Okay, fine," I said. "However, I'm going to say this now, I really don't want to kiss Al or Hugo or anyone else who's related to me."

"How about this," said Will. "If the person is the same gender, or they're related to you, you can kiss them on the cheek, but if they're not, you have to kiss them on the lips."

"Excellent idea," I said. "Okay, here goes nothing." I grabbed the butterbeer bottle, took a deep breath, and spun it.

It went around and around, slowing, until finally, it landed on…

Dominique.

"Beloved!" she exclaimed, jokingly. We got up and, accompanied to that incredibly annoying Zabini's catcalls, I kissed her on the cheek.

"My turn!" she said, sitting back down. Her spin landed on Leo Jordan. They stood up. Leo looked kind of embarrassed. Dominique, on the other hand, stepped into the circle, wrapped her arms around him, and kissed him like he was her long-lost vampire lover and the world was going to end in about thirty seconds.

When they broke apart, Leo looked dazed, like he had been clubbed by a troll or something. He spun the bottle and got Albus, kissed him very awkwardly on the cheek, sat back down, and started staring at Domi.

Al, meanwhile, spun the bottle and got Theresa Boot..

They were both the color of beets as they stood up and pecked, briefly, on the lips.

Theresa spun the bottle and got me.

After she had kissed me on the cheek, I sat down, spun the bottle, and got…

_Oh, Merlin. Please save me from this fate._

…Will Frobisher.

"Ooh," said Dominique. "The two enemies become lovebirds."

I could tell I was blushing as I got to my feet, and I wished I could be as calm and cool as Will, whose expression was completely unreadable.

"Come on!" said Zabini. "Kiss him already."

Resigned to my fate, I stepped forward and stood on tiptoe, my hands on his shoulders for balance. Before I could lose my nerve, I leaned in and kissed him.

His lips were warm and soft, the pressure of them perfect against my own mouth. His hands were on my hips, steadying me, and I leaned in a little, tasting the cinnamon. For a single, oblivious, forgetful moment, it was the perfect kiss, the kind of kiss princesses have with their princes in crystal palaces, as elegantly clothed minstrels play dramatic harp music, while rose petals rain down from the ceiling and sparkly fairies fly around their heads.

Then I remembered that I was kissing Will Frobisher. _Will Frobisher! Kissing! Will! _The crystal palace crumbled as the elegantly clothed minstrels died a fiery death and the rose petals turned into six-inch poisonous thorns.

Quickly, I pulled away.

Zabini whistled. "Maybe we should get these two a room."

"Maybe we should get you a straightjacket," I retorted, taking my seat and praying I wasn't blushing.

Will spun the bottle and got Zabini, who spun it and got Dominique. After Zabini and Domi kissed for much longer (and with much more tongue) than was necessary, Domi spun the bottle and got Rose.

I held my breath. _Get Scorpius, get Scorpius, get Scorpius, get Scorpius._

She got Jamie Bell.

And so it went for the rest of the game. The bottle went from person to person, but never once did Scorpius or Rose have to kiss. It was ridiculous.

Around three o'clock in the morning, when Domi actually fell asleep while eating a cookie and almost choked to death, I decided that the party was over.

"Shoo!" I said, as Zabini (that boy cannot hold his butterbeer) tried to hug me. "Get out of here!"

Finally, they all left, leaving me to clear up the mess of the party. I was stacking glasses when a voice said "Hey."

I turned around to see none other than Will Frobisher standing behind me. Apparently they had not all left. "Oh, hi," I said.

"It sucks that our plan didn't work," he said, although, weirdly, he didn't sound too upset.

"Yeah, it does," I said, although, to my surprise, I didn't sound _or _feel particularly disappointed, myself. "Well, we'll come up with something else."

He nodded, hesitated, and then added "Sorry about the…you know."

"Kiss?" I said.

He laughed. "Yeah, that."

"It's fine," I said lightly. "There was nothing we could do. Besides, shockingly, you're not that horrific of a kisser."

He laughed again. "Yeah, whatever." He reached out and, casually, tucked a stray piece of red hair behind my ear. "Good night, Lily."

"Good night, Will," I said, and watched as he slipped quietly out of the room.

That night, I dreamed of crystal palaces.


	8. Chapter 7:Cookies, Smirks, and Mirrors

**AN: Thank you to all those who review, follow, and favorite! You're wonderful human beings and I adore you all.**

* * *

"How about _you had me at hello_?"

"More like _you had me at warty chicken._"

"Did he honestly call her a warty chicken?"

"Don't you remember? It was at the Sorting."

"Didn't you call me a frumpy hare at _our_ Sorting?"

"Only after you said I had no soul!"

"Fine, fine. Oh! How about _you're my everything_?"

"Excellent! Put that down as number two."

It was a beautiful October day. The sun was shining brightly, a little breeze rippling through the brightly colored flowers, making them dance.

Will and I were stretched out on a picnic blanket by the lake. Supposedly, we were planning our next attempt to get Scorpius and Rose together. In actuality, we were making a list of the Top Ten Clichéd Things Rose and Scorpius Will Say When They Finally Get Together.

I rolled onto my back, staring up at the sky. "Do you have any food?" I asked. "I'm starving."

"Yeah, I have these cookies my mum sent me," he said, pulling a plastic bag out of his backpack and handing it to me. I pulled out a cookie and bit into it.

"This is delicious," I said.

He laughed. "Yeah, my mum does a lot of cooking. I burn everything, so she usually handles the meals."

"What about your dad?" I asked.

He smiled a funny smile. "I actually wasn't joking about my dad, that one time. He really did have an affair with my mom and go back to his wife. He's just not Ron Weasley."

I reached out, took his hand, and squeezed it. "Hey," I said. "I hope he and his wife have really bratty children. A guy who ditches one great kid deserves to have a bunch of horrible ones."

He laughed. "Great kid, huh?"

"Sure," I said, propping myself up on my elbow so I could look him in the face. "I mean, come on. You're funny, you're smart, and you're a good friend."

He raised eyebrows. "We're friends?"

I raised a single eyebrow, which is much cooler than raising both. "I'm not your friend?"

"It pains me to admit it," he said, grinning, "but yes, you're my friend. Even if you have no soul."

"I'm touched," I said. "Ooh, how about _I'll never let you go._"

"Excellent," he said, and added it to the list.

* * *

That evening, after destroying Will at chess in the Gryffindor common room, I headed up to my dormitory and found Rose sitting on my bed, grinning, her arms folded across her chest.

"Why do I get the feeling that I'm not going to like the reason you're here?" I said.

"So," she said.

"So what?" I replied.

"So what's up with you and _Will_?" she asked, a slight smirk on her face.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

The smirk grew slightly. "Well, two months ago, you hated each other, and now you practically spend all of your time together."

"Yes," I said. "That is a true statement. And your point is?"

"What's going on with you two?"

"We're friends."

"Friends," she repeated.

"Is that an unfamiliar concept or something?"

She got to her feet, still smirking. It was very irritating, to tell you the truth. "No, no," she said. "Well, goodnight."

I stared after her as she left the room, and then turned to face the mirror. "Why do I get the feeling something's going on here?" I asked my reflection.

"Something always is, dearie," replied the mirror.

* * *

**AN: Can you think of any more extremely cheesy romantic lines? I actually kind of struggled with that bit. **


	9. Chapter 8: A Marvelous Idea

**AN: Okay, I'm sorry that there was a delay with this chapter. For some reason, I was having a bit of a hard time writing it. I hope that the next few will come more quickly. Also, thank you for your reviews! They're lovely and wonderful and I enjoy them so much. Please continue. :) One last thing: Guys, go check out ********.** **Seriously. She is a lovely writer and a wonderful person, and she reviews literally everything I write. She deserves more attention. Okay, that's all. Your long-delayed chapter is here.** **NOTE: "Titian hair" is a reference to Titian Vecelli, an artist who famously painted red-haired women.** **Look up images of "Titian hair" if you're confused.**

* * *

"Lily, wake up! I have it! I figured it out! It's brilliant!"  
I opened my eyes and yelped. A gigantic pair of green eyes was staring at me.  
Hold on a second.  
I blinked.  
Oh. Will, looking all fresh and clean, his hair still wet from the bath, was kneeling next to my bed. (His bright-eyed, early-morning cheerfulness was disgusting. That boy wakes up way too early.)  
Anyways, the close proximity of his face had made his eyes look gigantic. It was rather scary, like Will had turned into a gigantic, human-fly hybrid and was floating around my head, ready to slurp up my blood and drag my drained carcass back to his lair.  
Wow. I never knew I could be so imaginatively violent at seven in the morning.  
"What are you doing?"I demanded, closing my eyes. "Let me sleep!" Alice Longbottom and the other girls in my dormitory had learned the hard way not to wake me up before 9:00 a.m. on the weekends. (The hard way involved the Curse of the Bat-Bogeys and large amounts of ice-cold water. I think the stains on the dormitory walls remain to this day.)  
Wait.  
My dormitory.  
Why was Will in my dormitory?  
"Will!" I exclaimed, sitting bolt upright and opening my eyes. "What are you doing? You're not supposed to be in here!"  
"That doesn't matter right now!" he said excitedly. "Listen, Lily, I have a plan!"  
"Well, tell me!" I said, starting to get slightly excited.  
He grinned. "There's going to be a ball!"  
A ball? "Like the Yule Ball?"  
"Yes!"  
"Oh my Morgana, you're a genius!" I said, jumping out of bed and hugging him. "How are we going to—  
"I already talked to Headmaster Longbottom! He says we can do it! I mean, there's going to be a bunch of Muggle stuff we have to do, but—  
"Will!" I shrieked. "You're the best!" I hugged him even tighter.  
"I know," he said, oh-so-modestly. But he squeezed me back even harder, and I knew he was just as excited as I was.  
For some reason, I felt reluctant to let go of him, but I did anyways. Quickly, to rid myself of the bizarre feeling, I splashed some water over my face and ran a brush through my hair, as Will filled me in on the details.  
"It's going to be on Halloween," he informed me, as he sat on my bed, watching me get ready for breakfast. "A masquerade ball."  
"Awesome," I said. Then I frowned. "Ugh, a ball. I suppose I'll have to get a date."  
Will rolled his eyes. "Like that's going to be a problem."  
I turned to face him, my hands on my hips. "Are you implying that I'm a floozy?"  
"Who uses the word floozy?" he said. Just as I was about to punch him, he added, "And no, I'm not. I'm implying that you're drop-dead gorgeous."  
I lowered my hand and blinked rapidly. "Wait, what?"  
"Don't fish for compliments, it's unbecoming," he responded.  
"I'm so lost right now," I said, confused.  
He got to his feet, wrapped his arm around my shoulders, and turned, so we were facing the mirror. "Look at yourself," he said.  
For a moment, I did. I took in pale (a poet would say creamy) skin, dark red (an artist would say Titian) hair, and brown (the poet would say chocolate) eyes. Sure, I was pretty-ish, but definitely not drop-dead gorgeous.  
Instead, my eyes drifted over to Will. He had nice, chestnut brown hair, olive skin, and fantastic green eyes. His teeth were white and straight, and when he smiled, his whole face lit up. Furthermore, as I was now noticing, he was just a few inches taller than me, and the muscles in his arms were rather nicely toned and muscular—  
Okay, Lily. You really need to work on your focusing abilities. What were we talking about? The ball. No, the fact that Will thinks you're gorgeous.  
No, the fact that he's gorgeous.  
No, we weren't talking about that.  
Although he actually kind of is—  
"See what I mean?" said Will, interrupting the painful internal struggle of my two inner voices, the logical one and the annoying one. I have to deal with their bickering so much; I should probably give them names or something. Annoyilily and Intellily, maybe? "You're pretty."  
I blinked, my eyes focusing back onto the mirror. "Well, thanks," said. "You're not so bad, yourself. Especially for a frumpy hare."  
Will groaned. "I thought we had moved past that, Ginger."  
"Never, frumpy hare," I said, moving away from the mirror. But as I did so, I caught sight, one last time, of my reflection, and I saw that I was blushing. And so was he.

* * *

That morning, Scorpius, Rose, Albus, Will, and I were eating breakfast together (yes, I was actually eating breakfast. Normally, I sleep in so late that 'breakfast' for me is actually lunch.) I was halfway through a plate of sausage and eggs, a nice change from the whole sandwiches-for-breakfast thing, when I saw Headmaster Longbottom getting to his feat. I elbowed Will in the side, and he elbowed Rose, and Rose elbowed Alice Longbottom, and soon the entire Great Hall was silent.  
Headmaster Longbottom cleared his throat. "Attention, students!" he announced. "The professors and I have decided that there will be a slight change of holiday plans for this year. Instead of attending the Halloween feast, all fourth-year and above students may attend the Halloween Masquerade Ball. In order to ensure that this ball is a learning experience for you all, you will be required to perform a Muggle dance you have learned in your Muggle Studies class, and you will be assisting in decorating and preparing the food—the Muggle way. Thank you. That is all!"  
The Great Hall filled with excited murmuring and chattering.  
Grinning, I turned to face Will. "There's no escape for them now," I said.  
"None at all," he replied, grinning back.


	10. Chapter 9: Turquoise

**AN: This chapter was a lot easier to write than the last one, so... I hope you like it!**

* * *

If you ever want to see multiple teenage girls go completely crazy, tell them they have less than three weeks to get a date to a ball.

Seriously. I have never seen anything more ridiculous. They moved around in little packs, applying lipstick every five seconds and fluttering their sparkly eyelashes. Furthermore, they were constantly swarming the most attractive guys in the school, a group that, unfortunately, included Will. Not that it was unfortunate that Will was attractive— I mean, I didn't find him attractive. Obviously. Although he _really _did have nice arms, and his eyes—

_Ahem. Annoyilily, shut up._

_But Intellily, he really does have nice arms!_

_Shut up._

_I mean, some guys have thin little stick arms, like Lorcan._

_Shut. Up._

_And other guys are like way too focused on bodybuilding and stuff, like Lysander, so their arms are all big and gross._

_SHUT. UP._

_But Will has, like, the perfect arms._

_SHUT UP._

ANYWAYS, what was I saying? Oh, yes. It was very unfortunate that the girls kept swarming Will, because he and I were busy trying to get Scorpius and Rose to go to the ball together. For example, one afternoon, we were hanging out in the library, discussing whether Rose would look better in blue or green. (It was an important detail, okay? She needed to look pretty for the ball.) Anyways, there we were, dealing with highly important matters, when a perky blonde girl came up to us.

"Oh, Will!" she exclaimed, fluttering her eyelashes and completely ignoring my existence. "Imagine seeing you here!"

He gave me a _Who-in-Merlin-is-this-chick _look. I responded with my nastiest _Your-problem-not-mine _look.

"Um," he said, turning back to the blonde girl. "I don't mean to be rude, but do I know you?"

"I'm Marilyn," she said, making some kind of pouty face. "Don't you remember? On January 6th of our second year, at 10:47 a.m., I tripped in the hallway and you gave me a band-aid. Look!"

To my complete disgust, she reached into her pocket and pulled out a tattered band-aid, complete with dried blood.

"Oh," said Will, looking completely terrified, like Marilyn was going to kill him and then carry around the bloody knife so she could give it to her grandchildren.

"Anyways," continued Marilyn, perky as ever, "I was wondering if you'd like to go to the ball with me!"

Will gave me his terrified _rescue-me-from-the-psychopath _look. I decided that it was probably my responsibility to do so, since he was my partner in crime, so I stepped in smoothly and said "Marilyn, darling, you don't want to go with this jerk! I mean, come on. Sweetheart, you need higher standards. Besides, I heard Alexander Zabini wants to go with you." Alexander Zabini was, supposedly, the hottest guy in the school, and a year older than us, so I figured a girl like Marilyn would find him appealing, if anyone could.

As I had suspected, Marilyn immediately looked thrilled. "Really? Goodbye!" And she promptly sprinted out of the library.

"I swear I did not give her that band-aid," said Will, looking completely shell-shocked. "I don't even carry band-aids around with me. I mean, come on. Who carries around band-aids?"

"Face it," I said. "You just need to get a date to the ball, or these girls are never going to leave you alone."

"What about you?" he demanded.

"What about me?"

He rolled his eyes. "Maybe if you got a date, they'd stop swarming around you like ants to honey."

"They are not—

At that exact moment, Lorcan Scamander appeared in front of us, skinny little stick arms and all. He was also much paler than I remembered. I wrinkled my nose distastefully. That boy needed to shower more. Also, why was he standing in front of me? When he found out that I had snogged his brother prior to snogging him, we had a massive fight and broke up. Now, I know that story does not put me in the best light, but honestly, they were my only two boyfriends, ever. I am no—as Gran would put it—scarlet woman.

However, just because I haven't snogged lots of guys by no means makes seeing the ones I have snogged any more pleasant. So I was not particularly pleased to see Lorcan standing there.

Very, very reluctantly, I raised my head and looked Lorcan in the eyes. The moment I did so, he squeaked, turned bright red, and whipped out a bouquet of soggy, disgusting flowers.

_How in the name of Circe did I ever _like _this guy? Why didn't Rose or Al knock some sense into me? Oh, right. I didn't tell them. That's the last time I make that mistake._

"Lily," said Lorcan dramatically. Okay, he was trying to be dramatic. Poor boy. "I have come to you in a mission of urgency."

"Yes, Lorcan?" I said, feeling rather like I was dealing with a delusional five-year-old or something.

"Lily, I have come to apologize for wronging you," he continued.

"Oh," I said. "Well, in that case, I forgive you. Have a nice day."

"No, don't go!" exclaimed Lorcan. "Lily, my beloved—

"Whoa there," I said. "Easy."

He ignored me. "—I was wrong to turn away from you. In my anger, I did not see the truth. It does not matter to me if you slept with one thousand of my brothers—

"_What_?" said Will and I, at exactly the same moment. Will stared at me in horror. "Did you really—

"_No_!" I exclaimed, before turning back to Lorcan. "Okay, Lorcan. Three things. One: I have never and will never sleep with one thousand people, because that's disgusting. Two: you have one brother, not one thousand. Three: I did _not _sleep with Lysander. We snogged. Okay, we may have possibly made out, _once, _but I _did not _sleep with him. For god's sake. I was _fourteen _when we were dating. That is totally disgusting."

"Lily, will you attend the ball with me?" said Lorcan, waving his flowers. Apparently he had not been listening to a word I had said and had continued with his monologue.

"No thank you, Lorcan," I said.

He looked like the moon had fallen out of the sky and flattened him. "Why not?"

I was about to explain the many reasons I did not want to attend the Halloween Ball with Lorcan Scamander, but at that moment, Will, thank Merlin, stepped in.

"She's already going with someone," he said smoothly.

Lorcan looked furious. "I leave you to your fate, Lily Evans," he said, and, after dramatically—okay, kind of dramatically—dropping the flowers on the floor, he stormed out. Okay, he stalked out. Okay, fine. He walked out in a kind of angry-looking manner.

Will raised his eyebrows. "Hmm. Lily, do you remember what I was saying earlier? Something about ants and honey, I believe?"

"I'd rather go with an ant than with Lorcan Scamander," I told him.

"You didn't actually sleep with Lysander, did you?" he asked, a weird look in his eyes.

I threw my hands into the air. "Will no one believe me?"

"So you didn't?"

"Of course not!"

He grinned. "Just checking."

I sighed. "Let's just admit. We both need to find someone to go with."

"There's no one I _want _to go with," he said.

I rolled my eyes. "Oh, please. There must be one girl in this entire school that you find attractive."

"Sure," he said. "Plenty of them are attractive. But very few of them are attractive, nice, and smart."

"The guys are worse," I told him, resting my head in my hands. "Merlin, why is life so complicated?"

"Come on," he said. "You can't tell me that there isn't a single guy in the school that you like."

"I swear that there's not," I said, just as Rose and Scorpius entered the library and approached our table.

"Swear that there's not what?" asked Rose, sitting down.

"A single guy in all of Hogwarts that I could bear attending the ball with," I said.

"What about Scorp and I?" demanded Will.

I stuck my tongue out at him. "You, my dear, are the worst of all."

He rolled his eyes. "Right."

"No, I'm kidding," I said. "That's not a bad idea. Why don't we all go together?"

"You mean in a group?" asked Scorpius.

"More like pairs," I said. "Will and I will go together, and you and Rose."

Rose opened her mouth, probably to object, but Will jumped in.

"Yeah," he said. "Excellent idea!"

Rose and Scorpius exchanged looks. "Fine," said Rose.

"Great!" I said. Our mission was successful!

"By the way, Rose," I said, casually, "I really think you should wear blue."

Will raised his eyebrows at me. "Or maybe green."

"Mm, I think blue," I said.

"Turquoise?" he said.

I grinned. Blue and green. Turquoise.

"Come on, Rosie," I said. "Let's go find you a turquoise dress."


	11. Chapter 10: Biscuits

**AN: Hello again! This chapter took a little bit longer than expected, but... the next chapter is the ball! Yay! I'll probably wait to post it until I get a few reviews... just because I'm cruel like that. Shall we say... five reviews? Yes? We have a deal? Okay, I'll stop rambling. Here you go!**

* * *

"One-two-three, one-two-three, twirl! Twirl! Dip and glide, dip and glide! To the right! Back to the middle! Twirl! Lift! Dip and glide! Alice, twirl! Put some energy into it! Will, Ms. Potter is not a biscuit you are dipping in tea!"

"Yeah, Will," I muttered, as Will attempted to correct his 'dip and glide.' "What do you think I am, some kind of biscuit?"

"Mm, biscuits," he muttered teasingly.

It was one week before the Halloween Ball, and preparations were well under way. Unfortunately for us, those preparations included learning how to dance. When Professor Brown had entered the Gryffindor common room, ready to teach all the Gryffindor students, grade by grade, how to dance, I immediately claimed Will as my partner.

"I'd rather eat biscuits than listen to her screaming at us for another twenty minutes," I said.

"Ms. Potter, you must be _graceful_," he said, mimicking the instruction Professor Brown had given me, like, fifty thousand times. And _come on._ It's not like I'm _clumsy, _I'm just not some delicate, pirouetting gazelle or something.

"Mr. Frobisher, you must be _elegant_," I muttered back, as he, yet again, performed the 'dip and glide' part of the dance.

He rolled his eyes. "Between your lack of gracefulness and my lack of elegance, it'll be a wonder if we make it through a single dance at the ball."

I shrugged and then twirled. "I don't really care," I said, as we began the on-two-three bit. "We don't have to dance."

He looked surprised. "You don't want to dance at the ball? It's a ball. Dancing is kind of the whole point."

"Yeah, but we're just going as friends," I said.

"Well, Scorpius and Rose have to dance," he said. "And I doubt they're going to if we don't."

"Good point," I conceded.

Finally, Professor Brown released us and began tormenting the sixth-years.

"Now I'm craving biscuits," I complained.

Will grinned. "I have some up in my room. Want to grab them? We could work on our Transfiguration essays while we're at it."

"Sure," I said. As I followed him up the stairs, I realized I had never actually been in his dormitory before. I also realized that I was not technically allowed to go into his dormitory.

Oh, well.

"Well, here it is," said Will, opening the door.

Surprisingly, even though the room was lived in by five guys, it wasn't too horrible. Okay, there were a few awkward items, such as:

-A pair of boxers lying on the floor

-A book entitled _Twelve Fail-Safe Ways to Charm Witches, Current Edition_, lying on someone's bed

-A poster of a _Victoria's Secrets_ model hanging on the wall

-Frank Longbottom and Mark Thomas

Of that list, Frank and Mark were, most definitely, the most awkward. Example:

Will walked into the room, and Frank glanced up. "Hey, Will," he said.

Then I walked into the room. "Whoa there," he said. "Hell-o."

Then Mark looked up. "_Oh_," he said. He smirked at Will. "I guess we should give these two some, ah, _privacy, _don't you think, Frank?"

"Don't want to intrude on your… homework," said Frank, jumping to his feet. "Let's be off, Mark."

"Have fun, you two," said Mark, winking.

"Not too much fun, mind," said Frank, also winking.

The door closed behind them.

"I get the feeling I'm missing something here," I said, my hands on my hips.

"Ignore them," said Will. "They'll make an innuendo out of anything."

"What do you mean?"

Will raised his eyebrows at me. "You know. Boy, girl, room with a bed."

"No, I do not know," I said.

He laughed. "You're so innocent."

"I am _not _innocent!" I exclaimed.

"Well, you're an evil mastermind," he said. "I meant in…other ways."

It took a minute for that to sink in. "_Oh. _Don't be ridiculous. You have no idea how innocent or non-innocent I am."

"You've had two boyfriends."

"You've had one girlfriend. You're even more innocent than I am."

He raised his eyebrows. "Yes, but I'm a good kisser."

I raised a single eyebrow, which, I will remind you, is much cooler than just raising one. "Are you saying that I'm not?"

For a moment, he seemed at a loss for words. His whole face turned an interesting shade of red.

Deciding that the subject was closed, I turned around, walked over to his bed, and began looking at the pictures on his bedside table.

He walked up and stood next to me. "How did you know that this one was mine?"

"What?" I said, absorbed in a picture of a pretty woman I assumed was his mother.

"The bed. How did you know it was mine?"

"Your green sweater is lying on it, it has a poster of your favorite band on the wall next to it, and your mom looks just like you," I responded, setting down the picture.

"That's pretty good, Detective Potter," he said.

"Of course it is," I said. Turning to face him, I found that we were standing awfully close together. There were only a few inches between our faces. Suddenly, I remembered what it felt like when we kissed while playing Spin the Bottle. My gaze settled on his lips as I remembered how soft and perfect they had felt against mine, his hands on my waist. His eyes met mine, and for an instant, I felt something: a buzzing, an electric tingle, spreading from my fingertips to my toes.

"Lily," he said. "There's something—

At that moment, the door banged open and the spell was broken. Quickly, we jumped away from each other and looked towards the door.

There stood Mark Thomas.

"Oh, I'm sorry," he said, smirking. "I totally forgot you guys were in here. I'll just leave you alone now. Carry on. Don't mind me."

He stepped out and closed the door again.

Will grabbed a package of biscuits from his bedside table. "Let's head back downstairs," he said, avoiding my eyes

"Good idea," I replied. But as I followed him down the stairs, I remembered that buzzing feeling.

_I must have been imagining it, _I thought. _That's the only explanation._

But I wasn't so sure.


	12. Chapter 11: The Dance

**I am sosososososo sorry for the incredibly late update. But here it is! The last chapter! Thank you for reading! I'd love to know what you think of the ending. Anyways, farewell, my awesome readers! Come check out my other stories.**

**Here it is.**

* * *

"Has anyone seen my curling iron?"

"Where are my shoes?"

"Who took my eye shadow?"

"Does anyone have my hair clips?"

It was the day of the Halloween Ball, and, naturally, all of the girls in my dormitory were completely freaking out. Okay, I will admit— I may have been _slightly _nervous. But I was not _nearly _as bad as they were.

I fastened my earrings, took a deep breath, and looked in the mirror.

My hair was arranged my hair in an elegant bun on top of my head, with just a few wispy pieces drifting down, framing my face. I had put on eyeliner and a little bit of gold eye shadow, making my eyes look dramatic. My dress was pure white, with a halter neck and a skirt that was longer in the back and shorter in the front. I also wore pearl stud earrings and a little silver ring my beloved cousin, Hugo, gave me for my last birthday. That boy really is very sweet sometimes.

I wondered if Will would like my dress.

_Don't be ridiculous, _I chided myself._ You're just friends. He probably won't even notice your dress._

"Are you ready to go down?" asked Alice Longbottom, smiling at me. She looked cute: her dress was black on the top, with a sparkly silver belt and a short, fluffy pink skirt.

I smiled back at her. "You look great. Yeah, I'm ready."

"Let's go!" she said, giving me a hug. "And remember, you're gorgeous!"

Her excitement was contagious. Laughing and chattering, we made our way down the stairs. As we reached the bottom step, I looked away from Alice, and I suddenly realized that Mark Thomas, Alice's date, was standing at the foot of the stairs. Standing next to him was Will.

For a long moment, he just stood there, staring at me, and I began to feel horribly nervous. Had I burned my hair off with a curling iron? Was there a stain on my dress?

Then he spoke. "I don't even know what to say." A slow smile spread across his face. "You look absolutely amazing."

A surge of overwhelming happiness came over me. "You're not making some kind of joke?"

"Are you kidding?" he said. "Have you even seen yourself?" There was a strange look in his eyes, something hesitant and sweet. Then he jumped. "I almost forgot. I got you something." He held out a beautiful corsage, made of white lilies.

"It's beautiful!" I exclaimed. "Thank you!"

"Oh, and there's this, too," he said, pulling another lily out of somewhere. "It's enchanted to stay fresh and in place." Reaching out, he tucked it behind my ear, and as his fingers brushed against my skin, I felt a strange, tingling, shivering feeling.

"Where are Rosie and Scorp?" I asked, trying to distract myself from the strange feeling.

Will grinned and pointed. "I think we were right to go with turquoise."

A few feet away stood Scorpius and Rose, looking slightly awkward, but cute. Rose's auburn hair was French-braided over one shoulder. Her dress was a bright turquoise, with a single silver strap and a slit in the side that ran from her knee to the ground.

"You're right," I said to Will. "She looks great."

"Yeah," he said, grinning. "Not as great as you, though."

I smiled at him. "Should we go get them?"

"Yeah," he said, smiling back. "Let's go party!"

Laughing, we joined up with Rose, Scorpius, Alice, Mark, Albus, and his date, Theresa Boot. When they showed up together, Will winked at me, and I remembered how the two of them had been forced to kiss when we played Spin the Bottle. Well, at least _some_ couple benefited from that, even if it wasn't Rose and Scorp.

Together, our group headed down to the Great Hall. The decorations were amazing. Orange candles floated high above our heads, masks hung on the walls, and there was a carved pumpkin at each of the small round tables that had replaced the House Tables.

We claimed a table and watched as everyone else drifted into the Great Hall, usually in small groups. I noticed that Marilyn, the psycho girl from the library, and Lorcan, my psycho ex from the library, were standing together. Lorcan looked kind of terrified, and Marilyn looked— well, she looked like her usual psycho self, only she was clad in a very skimpy leopard-print dress.

Grinning, I subtly pointed her out to Will.

"Oh, she looks fabulous," he said. "I should have gone with her instead."

I stuck out my tongue. "Please. She would probably want to make out with you and then kill you and put your body in a display case."

"I'm not sure if I should be more terrified of the _making out _bit or the _body in a display case _bit."

Just as I was about to respond, Headmaster Longbottom got to his feet, clinking a fork against a goblet to get our attention.

"Welcome, students, to the Halloween Ball!" he said. "Please, eat, drink, and be merry!"

The students all cheered, and the music started. I was surprised to hear popular Muggle songs playing— songs that we most definitely would not have to _dip and glide _to.

I noticed that my plate had magically filled with food, and I began to eat. Everyone was laughing, talking, and having a great time.

After about half an hour, I gave Will a _time-to-get-Scorp-and-Rosie-to-kiss-each-other _look.

He nodded.

I jumped to my feet.

"Come on, guys!" I said. "Let's dance!" And before they could protest, Will and I dragged everyone onto the dance floor.

It was amazing.

We danced and shouted and laughed. The music was loud and I could feel the rhythm pounding through me, my bones vibrating as I jumped up and down along with everyone else, the air over our heads transforming into a sea of waving arms and hands. The room was mostly dark, with brightly colored lights flashing from the ceiling, and Alice was shouting and Dominique was doing some ridiculous-looking dance called _twerking _and Will was a surprisingly good dancer and I felt drunk on energy and freedom and music and then, right before our eyes, Scorpius kissed Rose on the lips.

For a moment, our entire group froze, waiting for Rose's reaction, and then Rose wrapped her arms around Scorpius and kissed him back.

I shrieked and spun to face Will. "We did it!" I shouted. "Will! We did it!" And then, before I could think or regain my sanity or reconsider, I kissed him.

It was like the battle royale of Annoyilily and Intellily, going something like this:

Intellily: Stop kissing him!

Annoyilily: But it's fun!

Intellily: I— I mean you— I mean we— are not having fun! We are not having fun!

Annoyilily: Speak for yourself.

Intellily: We're just friends!

Annoyilily: But he's kissing us back!

Annoyilily, annoying as she is, actually usually tells the truth. I paused and realized that yes, Will was kissing us— _me_— back. In fact, he had his arms wrapped around me was holding me like he was never going to let go, making me feel all warm and fuzzy and safe and—

Intellily: No! Stop!

Annoyilily: Don't stop!

Intellily: Stop!

"Shut up!" I shouted, breaking the kiss.

"I didn't say anything," said Will, who was blushing. "Um, sorry for— um—

"No, not you!" I said. "Annoyilily and Intellily!"

"Who?"

"Annoying me and Smart me," I said. "The voices in my head."

"You named the voices in your head?" said Will.

"No! Okay, sort of— I mean, they kind of named themselves," I said. "Oh, Merlin. I'm crazy." I looked up and met his eyes and suddenly I really wanted to kiss him again.

For a moment, we just stood there, looking at each other.

"Well," I said. "Um. I'm sorry. I should go. Um, sorry for, you know. Kissing you. Again. Although the first time wasn't my fault. Um. Um. Well. I mean, I'm sorry that we— I mean I—

"Lily?" said Will.

"Yeah?"

"Shut up, okay?"

I shut up.

And then he kissed me.

When we broke apart, he kept his arms around me.

"Well," he said.

"Well," I replied.

And then Scorpius, rolling his eyes, his arm still around Rose, exclaimed "Just ask her out already!"

Will's eyes met mine, and I saw him take a deep breath. "Lily?"

"Yes?" I felt a little shiver of hope.

"Will you go out with me?"

I grinned. "With you, frumpy hare?"

He rolled his eyes. "Yes, ginger."

"Hmm," I said. "I suppose…yes."

"Well, well," said a voice. I turned to see Headmaster Longbottom staring at us— along with the rest of the school. The music had stopped. "I suppose I owe my daughter Alice a galleon."

Alice grinned. I blinked rapidly. "You were _betting _on us? Alice!"

Scorpius grinned, too. "I didn't bet against you, thing, too!"

"We always thought you were perfect for each other," added Rose. "But you hated each other."

"And then Rose had this brilliant idea," said Scorpius. "See, we've been dating since the beginning of the year, but we pretended we weren't, just so you guys would try to get us together and become friends."

I stared in disbelief. "You've been _secretly dating_?"

Laughing, Rose nodded. "Of course, you were in complete denial, Lil. At least Will admitted he liked you. But he would never work up the nerve to kiss you."

Hands on my hips, I turned to face Will. "How long has this been going on for?"

"Since the beginning of October," he said, smiling.

"I didn't think he was going to win you over, Ms. Potter," said Headmaster Longbottom.

"Did the entire school know about this?" I exclaimed.

"Yes!" shouted the entire school.

I turned to face Will. "Did they bet against you?"

"Mostly," he said. He grinned. "But I won you over with pure will power."

"Where there's a will there's a way," I said.

"Exactly," he replied. "Where there's a will there's a way."

And then we kissed again, with the whole school cheering and the music blaring, and it was perfect.

Absolutely perfect.

So, as you can see, this really wasn't intentional.

I never meant for any of this to happen.

I never meant for Will Frobisher to become my boyfriend.

That wasn't part of the plan.

But sometimes things don't go as planned.

And sometimes, that's a good thing.

_THE END._


End file.
